Making hats.



' *No. 703,383. Patented July I, 1902.

J. A. BYERS.

MAKING HATS.

(Application filed Dec. 16, 1901.) (No Model.)

UNTTED STATES PATENT JOSEPH A. BYERS, OF MILWAUKEE, WVISOONSIN.

MAKING HATS.

SFECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 703,383, dated July 1, 1902.

I Application filed December 16, 1901. Serial No. 86,144, (No d l.)

To aZZ 1071,0122 2 25 may concern:

Beit known that I, JosEPH A. BYERS, a citizen ofthe United States, and aresident of Milwaukee, in the countyof Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Making Hats; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention has especial reference to woolfelt hats, particularly those designed for the millinery trade and which are pulled and shaped in die machines. Heretofore such hats have been tacked on cold blocks preparatory to pouncing; but this way of blocking is expensive as regards time and labor, as well as unsatisfactory, because of the liability of the hats to be damaged or altogether ruined while being pounced, owing to their slack fit on the cold blocks.

In view of the foregoing the invention has for its object to facilitate and cheapen the manufacture of the hats, as well as to avoid loss by damage to said hats when the same are pounced, said invention consisting in a peculiar method of blocking said hats, as is hereinafter particularly set forth with reference to the accompanying drawings and subsequently claimed.

Figure 1 of the drawings represents a partlysectional side elevation of a clamp employed in connection with a hot block in the carrying out of my method of blocking felt hats that are pulled and shaped in die-machines, a hat and block therein being shown in section in the clamp. Fig. 2 representsa plan view of the clamp and block, the hat on said block being hid by the upper one of a pair of brimmatchers.

Referring by letter to the drawings, A indicates the bed of a clamp employed in the carrying out of my method of blocking felt hats that have been pulled and shaped in a die-machine. Ahollow base 13, set on the bed, is recessed at the bottom to provide for ventilation, as well as to permit insertion of a hand of the operator of the clampwhenever necessary or desirable. Sockets are provided in the upper end of the base for the engagement of dowel-pins Z), depending from a hatbrim matcher O, and pivoted between standards D on the bed A is a straight fulcrumshank of a partly-elliptical lever E, a latch F being arranged in pivotal connection with said bed to hook over a straight central handleshank of the lever. A counterweight G is adjustably held by a set-screw H on the fulcrum shank of the lever, and in pivotal connection with the bows of the elliptical portion of said lever are ears 0 of a hat-brim matcher I over the one, C, aforesaid.

In practice the lever E is unlatched and lifted to raise hat-brimmatcher I, and a hat J of the kind specified is set crown down on the lower brim-matcher C, after which said lever is operated to bring said upper brimmatcher,pivotally hung therefrom, into working position, as shown in Fig. 1. Latch F is now swung to hook over the handle-shank of the lever, and the hatis securely clamped between the brim matchers, its crown being then within the confines of the lower one of said brim-Inatchers and base B,if deep enough to extend below said lower brim-matcher.

An ordinary crown-pattern block K, provided with the usual central screw-tapped lathe-head socket (Z and finger-sockets e, is heated in a steamer convenient to the operator of the clamp, then smeared with adhesive material, preferably a solution of shellac, around its socket end, thereafter set in the hat-crown, and finally rapped down in said crown with a mallet or other suitable tool. The adhesive material sticks the hat on the block, and the heat of said block causes the hat-crown to shrink tight on said block or, in other words, conform perfectly thereto, so as to obviate the liability of said crown to dam-,

age when pounced. The blocked hat is now removed from the clamp to be pounced and ragged, the block being separated from said hat on completion of the ,ragging operation, this separation being effected by passing a stripping-stick around between the hat-crown and block and then pulling the latter out of said crown.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

That improvement in the artof blocking millinery hats which comprises the following steps; first, securing the brim portion of the hat in a rigid position; second, applying an adhesive substance to the body or crown portion, to maintain its position on the block, and

subjecting the said crown or body portion to the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconthe operation of heat and pressure, for the sin, in the presence of two Witnesses. purpose of shrinking the same, as a preliminary step to the pouncing operation, as set BYERS' 5 forth. 7 NVitnesses:

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I N. E. OLIPHANT,

have hereunto set my hand, at Milwaukee, in B. O. ROLOFF. 

